A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to colorimeters, and comprises a colorimeter capable of measuring transmitted, reflected, emitted and incident light.
B. Prior Art
Colorimeters are used to measure the color content of light. They are employed in diverse fields, and their design is often constrained by the particular requirements of those fields. Thus, a colorimeter designed for use in one field is often unsuitable for use in another.
Further, some fields have such diverse requirements that no one instrument has heretofore been suited for all the varying measurements required. For example, in the field of electronic pre-press editing, it is routinely necessary to measure the color content of printed hardcopy material (reflection measurements), photographic film (transmission measurements), video monitors (emission measurements), and ambient illumination (incident light measurements). Although it is desirable that such measurements be made with a single instrument, thus providing the benefit of common calibration, heretofore this was not commonly done, because of the restricted design of existent colorimeters.